During my weekend sojourn to Rite Aid, I noticed that they’d restocked their Wet ‘n’ Wild Color Icon section. I’ve been impressed with the Color Icon line, so I picked up a couple of neutral-toned eyeshadow trios: Sweet as Candy and Walking on Eggshells (hey, for $2.99 a pop, why not?). These two trios are actually very similar, except that Sweet as Candy is cool-toned and leans pink, while Walking on Eggshells is warm-toned and more peachy.

I played with Sweet as Candy today, and it didn’t disappoint. As you might expect, this trio includes three shades: a pink champagne, a cool-toned taupe, and a very pale highlight color. I paired this trio with NYX eyeliner in Velvet, which complemented the taupe incredibly well.

The look I did was very simple. Wet ‘n’ Wild trios helpfully tell you what color goes where, so just follow the instructions and you’re golden. I used the pink on my lid, the taupe in the crease, and the highlighter, surprisingly enough, to highlight.

If you haven’t tried Wet ‘n’ Wild’s Color Icon shadows, I highly recommend that you get on it! I’ve been pretty impressed with them pigmentation-wise (much better than a lot of pricier drugstore shadows I’ve tried *cough*L’Oreal HIP*cough*), and at a couple of bucks a pop, you can’t really go wrong.

I felt like wearing really pale eye makeup today. And wouldn’t you know? Urban Decay, in their infinite wisdom, included a super-pale shade in the 15th anniversary 24/7 eyeliner set, which I am nowhere NEAR done playing with yet.

Behold … Midnight Cowboy!

(Photos were taken in indirect natural light, direct sun, and with the flash, respectively.)

You may know Midnight Cowboy as Urban Decay’s notorious glitterbomb of an eyeshadow. Their website claims that it’s their best seller, which I find hard to believe, considering how many complaints I’ve read online about the shade’s masses of chunky glitter and endless fallout. My patience for glitter decreases more and more with each passing year, so I’ve never even considered purchasing Midnight Cowboy in eyeshadow form.

However.

The eyeliner version is GORGEOUS, and right up my alley. It’s a pale, warm, peachy champagne color. It’s got some sparkle to it, but it’s not overwhelming. And I didn’t have to wipe glitter off my face once during the day, which is more than I can say for some of UD’s other glittery liners (*cough*Crash*cough*). I was so impressed, in fact, that I may or may not have purchased the 24/7 shadow pencil in Midnight Cowboy today. (Also, in Sin. Also, Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin. What? I’m going through a champagne phase! And we’ve already established that I have no self control!)

In keeping with the pale theme, I wore Midnight Cowboy with Sellout eyeshadow (touted on the UD website as “Midnight Cowboy without the glitter”), just a bit of Toasted eyeshadow in the crease, and DiorShow mascara.

Click this next one to embiggen.

Unfortunately, none of my full-face shots came out very well. They never do when I take them at the end of the day! But this next one gives some indication of why I like this kind of look–it brightens up my eyes in a very subtle way.

So, yes. Midnight Cowboy 24/7 eyeliner is YET ANOTHER of my new favorite things. (Interesting how very many “new favorite things” I have acquired since purchasing the 24/7 set. Hmmm … I wonder if there’s a connection … )

To conclude, here is my “WTF?” photo of the day. I don’t know what happened here. But it was weird.

If you hadn’t guessed, I’m referring to Perversion, the new super-black eyeliner from Urban Decay that’s available exclusively in the 15th anniversary 24/7 set. This shade is one of the reasons I folded like a house of cards the instant the set became available online. And let me just tell you … it’s pretty goddamn black.

But wait! you’re saying. Doesn’t Urban Decay already have a perfectly swell black eyeliner? Well, yes. Zero is indeed a damn fine black. Not to mention that if you’re anything like me, you probably already have at least three or four of them floating around, given that UD seems to include them in pretty much every palette, set, or kit they sell.

However. Perversion takes black to a whole new level. And here’s the photographic evidence! Zero on the left, Perversion on the right.

Indirect indoor light:

Overcast outdoor light:

Flash:

Zero is nice, but Perversion is NUTS. Velvety, matte, and very, very black. If you’re a black eyeliner fiend, it’s well worth seeking out. Maybe not worth buying the whole set for if you won’t use the other 14 shades, but at least worth trying to hunt down on eBay someday. There are plenty of other excellent blacks out there (check out the massive black eyeliner comparison post on Temptalia, or listen to Jette wax rhapsodic about MAC Smolder). But if you love love love black eyeliner, this one’s well worth looking into.

So, how does it look on? DRAMATIC. If this eyeliner had been available when I was in high school, I’d have peed my safety-pin-festooned pants.

Being the boring, elderly, office-working neutral-makeup-wearer that I am, the first thing I did once I got my Urban Decay 15-year anniversary 24/7 eyeliner set home was start playing with the browns. And friends … I have fallen deeply, madly in love with one of them.

But before I get into that, let’s look at all the brown (or brownish) Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliners I own, shall we? From left to right, we have Whiskey, Bourbon, Corrupt, Stray Dog, and Underground. I left most of these photos enormous, so click them for the full effect. In direct sun:

In indirect indoor light:

And a flash photo for good measure:

Please note that only the middle three liners in these photos–Bourbon, Corrupt, and Stray Dog–are included in the 15th anniversary set. Please also note that only Bourbon and Underground are currently available individually. I got Whiskey as one half of the dual-ended pencil included with the Naked palette, and the only other place I’ve seen it is on Sephora as half of a duo.

I’m pretty impressed with all of these shades. Whiskey is a gorgeous, mid-toned, warm brown, and I’d love to have it in a full-sized pencil. Bourbon looks essentially the same as Whiskey, but with gold sparkle. Let’s skip over Corrupt, because I have a lot to say about it. Stray Dog is a really interesting, unusual color. It’s a brownish taupe with a definite gray tone to it–almost a duochrome effect. It looks taupey-brown straight on, but when you see it from an angle, the gray takes over. Very unique. And we all know my feelings on Underground, which is to say I LOVE IT.

Corrupt is pretty much my new favorite thing in the world. Christine from Temptalia describes it as a “dark chocolate brown with warm amber undertones,” and Urban Decay’s website calls it a “dark metallic brown w/silver sparkle.” Both of these descriptions are technically accurate, but I don’t think they really do it justice. It’s a fairly dark brown, definitely darker than Whiskey and Bourbon, and it has a unique reddish-coppery tone. This aspect of it is most obvious in the flash photo above, and it gives it an almost eggplant-y sheen in some light. The sparkle is noticeable, but not obtrusive or glittery. I love the way Corrupt looks with my eyes. Paging Dr. Love! Paging Dr. I.M.N. Love! Sigh.

I wore it to the grocery store today. Prepare yourself for THE GIANT EYEBALLS OF DOOOOOOOM!

I wanted to emphasize the liner, so I wore it with a really pale eyeshadow and mascara, and that was pretty much it. Again, these photos are all pretty huge, so click away!

Details:

UDPP Eden

MAC eyeshadow in Bisque (which, it turns out, is EXACTLY the color of my eyelids)

UD 24/7 eyeliner in Corrupt on upper lids

Lancome Hypnose Drama mascara in Excessive Black

NYX brow powder in Brown

UD lipstick in Wicked (I got this as part of a “Beauty in a Box” set from Sephora, and I didn’t expect to like it at all. But it’s actually quite pretty and unobtrusive. Score!)

So, to conclude: Corrupt is just gorgeous. It surprised the hell out of me–the one I was expecting to go nuts over was Stray Dog–and I really, really wish it were available individually and permanently. What do you think? Like it? Need it? Don’t care? Have sworn allegiance to another brown eyeliner already?

I am seriously into neutral eye colors these days. I don’t know why. I’ve never been hugely into brights, but I’ve gone crazy for neutrals all of a sudden. Taupes, beiges, reddish browns, coppery browns, very pale pinks and champagnes and off-whites, grays. Can’t get enough of them. I got 12 new (mostly neutral) eye shadows for Christmas, I have my Sephora cart all loaded up and ready to go with yet more, and my MAC favorites list is filled to the brim with subtle, gorgeous, glorious neutrals.

Man, I should have put on some lipstick! Anyway, I don’t know what the deal is with the neutral colors. I think part of it is that, as I get older, I’m less interested in “making a statement” with my makeup and more interested in flattering my features and skin tone. I’m also getting more concerned with the image that I present professionally: when I’m at work, I want people to focus on what I’m saying, not how I look. And these colors are perfect for professional, work-friendly, “grown-up” makeup looks. (Which is not to say that bold makeup can’t be professional and grown-up! There are a lot of things to take into consideration in terms of the makeup you wear at work: personal preference, the industry you’re in, possibly the dress code, and so on. Even where you live can have an influence.)

Here’s what I’m wearing!

UDPP in Eden

MAC Naked Lunch all over lids (thanks Mom!)

UD Roach in crease

UD Toasted above Roach to blend

MAC Dazzlelight to highlight

UD 24/7 eyeliner in Underground

Clinique High Impact mascara

These were almost all Christmas presents. The Urban Decay stuff was a gift to me from me, and my mom gave me the MAC stuff. Wheeee! New makeup!

Natural light:

With flash:

I know I’ve waxed rhapsodic about Underground eyeliner before, but I just have to reiterate that I freaking LOVE IT. It’s more subtle than black or even brown liner, and it’s just a unique and gorgeous color. I had a travel size of it before, but I got myself a full size for Christmas.

On a related note, were you aware that MAC Naked Lunch and Urban Decay Sell Out are almost perfect dupes? It’s a fact. Naked Lunch is just a tiny bit warmer and pinker, and Sell Out is slightly cooler and frostier. Otherwise, they’re practically indistinguishable pinky champagnes. I love them both!

Just a quick EOTD today. After all that drama and brightness over the weekend, I figured that today I’d scale it back with a nice neutral-ish eye. For my lid color, I used Entangle, an incredible metallic champagne/taupe from Aromaleigh’s Elemental Lustre collection. Seriously, these eyeshadows are amazing if you’re into metallics. You might still be able to snag some during Aromaleigh’s final clearance later this week.

In the crease, I used a sort of rosy color that I mixed myself with micas from TKB Trading. I loved it when I created it, then discovered to my horror that it’s one of those colors that, when worn on the lid, makes me look like I’ve been weeping for days. But it’s gorgeous as a crease color with Entangle, and here are the swatches to prove it! My frankencolor on the left, Entangle on the right.

Direct sun:

This next one is probably the most accurate, color-wise.

Flash:

The color I mixed isn’t nearly as reddish/coppery as it looks here. It’s really pretty rosey, with a sort of taupe undertone to it.

Eyes!

So, here’s what we have:

UDPP

Aromaleigh Entangle on lid and under outer lower lashes

My frankencolor in crease

Urban Decay Sin to highlight

UD 24/7 liner in Whiskey on upper lids

Clinique High Impact mascara in black/brown over UD lash primer

Silk Naturals Kisser Slicker in Birthday Suit on lips

A note about the Kisser Slicker. The Silk Naturals website describes this product as a scented lip gloss stick. Now, it is many things–pretty, flattering, moisturizing–but a “lip gloss stick” ain’t one of them. Nor is it particularly scented, from what I can tell … I can’t discern any fragrance at all, other than the usual lipsticky one. In my opinion, it’s more like a very moisturizing sheer lipstick than a gloss. The color is wonderful, though, a sort of raisiny nude. I love it. It’s a great product, I just wouldn’t call it a lip gloss.

Flash:

Natural light (check it out, I’m glowing like I opened Marsellus Wallace’s briefcase … it’s sunlight reflecting off the building next door):

So, there it is. In other exciting news, the USPS’s horrible tracking system claims that my latest Fyrinnae order is out for delivery. So you can expect more Fyrinnae madness after I get back from vacation!

Having sated my longing for drama with the pink smokey eye, today I decided to try out this whole “bright colors” thing I’ve been hearing so much about. I’m not a huge wearer of bright colors (as you might have noticed), but I recently bought a couple that I wanted to play with–namely, We’re All Mad Here, a chartreusey green from Fyrinnae, and Juvenile, a bright greenish yellow from Concrete Minerals. (Actually, that one was a free sample, but I THOUGHT about buying it, and it’s the thought that counts.)

As always, click photos for big versions, because I KNOW you want a better look at my spider plant.

I was inspired to some degree by Marianne’s post about bright colors, although she put her yellow color on the lid and the green above it (I did the opposite). I was enjoying the yellowy greenness of it all, but I wanted to throw some purple in there, so I added Herbivore, a purple Fyrinnae shadow with green shimmer, under my lower lashes. I also wanted to see how Herbivore looked with We’re All Mad Here, because I suspected they might be great together, and I think they are. Take a look at the swatches and let me know if you agree!

Swatch notes: First one is in indirect natural light, second one is in direct sunlight, third one is with the flash. Also, let us consider the black line to be the Maxon-Dixon Line of the back of my hand. The northern states are armed with nothing but Urban Decay Primer Potion, whereas the southern states also have the benefit of Pixie Epoxy. And yet they STILL managed to lose the war. (KIDDING!)

We’re All Mad Here on the left, Herbivore in the middle, Juvenile on the right.

These photos, as usual, don’t do justice to the colors in real life. You can’t really see the green in Herbivore at all. But trust me … it’s there, and it looks really freaking cool next to We’re All Mad Here.

Last night, I decided that it was time to conquer the mighty PIXIE EPOXY. Pixie Epoxy is a magical, tacky, gel-like substance manufactured in a woodland glade from the powdered wings of sustainably farmed, organically raised fairy folk, plucked by moonlight from the branches of an enchanted apple tree. Or so you might be led to believe if you’ve read any one of the bazillion glowing reviews of this stuff that exist throughout the makeup bloggery corner of the intertubes. Essentially, Pixie Epoxy is intended to “glue” sparkly eyeshadows, glitter, and the like to your face, thus preventing the dreaded “fallout” and bringing out the true intensity and sparkle of Fyrinnae’s complex, shimmery, multilayered shadows.

I had fiddled with PE a bit right after I got it, but given that my technical makeup skills are nonexistent still developing, I wasn’t too pleased with the results. However, I refuse to be intimidated by inanimate objects (for example, the gas stove in my previous apartment that you had to manually light with an open flame any time you wanted to use it), so I girded my loins and determined to give the epoxy another shot. And I’m happy to say that this time, I was much happier with the way things turned out. This stuff WORKS.

Let us begin with a couple of swatches. The color that I used the Pixie Epoxy on (vice-versa, really) was Velvet Vampire, one of Fyrinnae’s “Arcane Magic” shadows. These colors are complex even for Fyrinnae; as their site puts it, “Fyrinnae’s Arcane Magic Eyeshadows are specialized colours with a highlight that changes hue depending on how the light hits it (closer to or further from a light). Different light sources may show different shades, too.” Velvet Vampire is described as “a complex deep reddish hue that varies between molten cool crimson and a firey phoenix-red, all laced with gold sparkle and glimmer. Bring it closer to light or change the angle, and it turns to a metallic glittering gold with subtle “underhues” of copper.” In these photos, Velvet Vampire is swatched dry over UDPP on top and over Pixie Epoxy on bottom.

Direct sun (as always, click for bigger versions of photos):

Indoors, with flash:

You can really see how the PE grabs onto the color and glitter, making the shadow much more intense.

The other 2 colors I used in this look were Koala and Cheetah. Koala, described as a “medium rosy taupe” with a satin finish, is on the left; I think this will be another go-to Fyrinnae neutral for me. On the right is Cheetah, described as a “soft glowing pale peach” with “a slight golden shimmer.” I love both of these.

Indoors, with flash:

I was actually fairly pleased with how this look came out. It’s sort of warm and … I dunno, sunsetty?

I would definitely click on this next one if I were you. Seriously. Click, and behold the gorgeousness and gorgeousity that is Fyrinnae.

Impressive, eh? Although Velvet Vampire must be seen in the flesh to be believed.

Here’s the details:

UDPP

Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy on lids

Fyrinnae Velvet Vampire on lids and under lower lashes over PE

Fyrinnae Koala in crease above Velvet Vampire

Fyrinnae Cheetah above Koala

Clinique High Impact mascara in Black Brown

And one sort of crappy outside photo.

So there you have it! Do you have Velvet Vampire, or any of the other Arcane Magic colors? Have you conquered the Epoxy of Wonder?

I had so much fun playing with my eyeshadows from High Voltage Cosmetics yesterday that I had to go back for round two this morning. First thing I did after I got up (well, second thing … first thing was make coffee, without which no other things are possible) was to swatch all 8 colors I bought. So without further ado, I present: THE SWATCHES! Here they are in their full glory, swatched dry over UDPP, basking in the morning sun. Click to embiggen.

First up, let’s take another look at the purpley colors. I wasn’t that happy with the swatches I did yesterday, so I redid them, and I think these show the colors better. Crazy Crazy Nights on the left, Out in a Pout on the right.

Full sun:

Outside, indirect light, no flash:

Inside, with flash:

These swatches give a MUCH better look at the differences between these two colors than the ones I did yesterday. Also, CCN is definitely more shimmery than I’d thought. I maintain that OiaP isn’t all that shimmery or metallic; to me, it really seems more like a matte base with some sparkle. Not a bad thing at all, just not what I’d expected.

Row two! My beloved Backstage Pass on the left (if you’re looking for an opaque yet sparkly white, RUN, DON’T WALK), Big Break in the middle, Free Style on the right. Big Break is a pinky/peach color with gold sparkle–more pink than peach–and I couldn’t get it to photograph well. It’s not nearly as sheer as it appears here. Free Style is a stunning sort of olivey green with gold shimmer/sparkle. LOVE this one.

On to row three, which I think are some of the most unique colors I got in this order. So unique, in fact, that I’m having a hard time describing them. So let’s see what the site says! On the left, we have Love Drunk, described as “shimmery grey blueish shade that is unlike any other!” I’ll buy that! In the middle is Solar Power, described as “blueish purple grey.” I’m sensing a pattern. And on the right is Mirror Mirror, described as a “mid-toned blue, multidimensional.” I think these descriptions are all fairly accurate. On to the pretties! Again … say it with me now … direct sun, indirect sun no flash, indoors with flash.

Now let’s look at them all together!

Indirect light, no flash:

Indirect light, with flash:

So there you have it! The standouts to me here are Backstage Pass and Love Drunk, mostly because I think they’re very unique and because this company clearly knows how to create a super-light eyeshadow that’s neither sheer nor chalky. Being a total sucker for super-light eyeshadows, I’m impressed. Love Drunk is amazing–it’s much more complex than these photos show. I also really like Solar Power, Big Break (wish I could have gotten a better photo of this one), and Free Style.

Oh, and I don’t know why it never occurs to me to look at anything other than eyeshadow when I am engaging in Internet commerce, but apparently High Voltage does lip stuff too! The lovely and talented Julissa wrote a post about this a while back, and man … I clearly missed the boat. If when I order from HV again, I might have to check some lip stuff out too.

So: What do you think? Which are your favorites? Any other High Voltage shades I need in my life?

High Voltage Cosmetics, that is! After eyeballing their stuff online for some time, I placed my first order with HVC on 27 August. Actually, I placed it kind of late at night, as I recall, so for all intents and purposes, let’s call it 28 August. It shipped on the 29th and I got it on 1 September. FAST!

I ordered several different colors, but today, I want to focus on the purpley ones. The colors I used here are Crazy Crazy Nights (described on the site as “dusty rose,” but it seems more like a mid-tone violety purple with rose shimmer to me), Out in a Pout (described as “metallic maroon red wine,” but again seems more like a darker purple color with reddish/pink shimmer), and Backstage Pass (perfectly described as “bright ivory/cream white with a shimmery glow of gold sparks thrown in”). Neither of the purple colors seemed all that shimmery to me; they behaved more like matte colors in that they stayed where I put them and didn’t seem to want to sheer out as I blended them. No big deal, I just ended up using Crazy Crazy Nights to blend Out in a Pout, and using Backstage Pass to blend CCN.

On to the swatches! This one was taken in direct sunlight. From left to right, Backstage Pass, Crazy Crazy Nights, and Out in a Pout. As always, click to embiggen.

Crazy Crazy Nights is built up quite a bit in the middle, so it looks darker and more purple than it really is. In reality, it’s more like the color around the edges of the swatch in these photos. I swear that CCN and OiaP look different in real life–OiaP is significantly darker.

Inside, with flash:

Inside, with flash, at an angle–you can see how much darker OiaP is in this one:

I really liked all three of these colors. CCN and OiaP were nice, but didn’t seem that unique to me. The one that really blew me away was Backstage Pass. I’m a sucker for extremely light eyeshadows, and I have had a HELL of a time finding a white that’s not sheer. As you can see here … this bad boy AIN’T SHEER. It’s opaque and very sparkly, and it makes an incredible highlight color. Several of the highlight colors I’ve bought are so sheer as to be useless–what’s the point of using it if you can’t freaking SEE it?–but not this one. I love it.

And now to the look. Let me just preface this by saying that my office closed early today because of the long weekend and I had WAAAAY too much time on my hands. Also, my hair was sort of greasy and refused to cooperate, so I said “fuck it” and put more stuff in it and stuck it pretty much straight out, in keeping with the “High Voltage” theme.

In the stairwell (hey, it gets good light):

Out the back door:

OK, here’s what we have here:

UDPP

Wet ‘n’ Wild light pinky/violet eyeshadow (top left color in the Lust palette, I don’t think it has a name) in inner corners and inner third of lids

High Voltage Crazy Crazy Nights in middle of lids and above Out in a Pout to blend

High Voltage Out in a Pout on outer lids, in crease, and under lower lashes

Backstage Pass to blend out CCN and as highlighter

Sonia Kashuk eyeliner in Purple Passion on waterline

Christian Dior DiorShow mascara over Urban Decay lash primer

Urban Decay XXX Shine lip gloss in Love Junkie (I LOVE this color)

I tried to make crazy eyes in this next one, but I’m not sure it worked.

Generally speaking, I was very happy with this order–fast shipping, nice colors, very reasonably priced, good stuff all around. Would definitely order from High Voltage again. (ETA: And when I do, I think I need to look into their lip stuff too … Julissa’s post has convinced me!)